Thursday, December 10, 2015

What Youth Work Means to me?

Youth Workers are often mistaken or grouped with teachers. Although both careers fields help to foster youth in a positive direction by providing them with the necessary skills to utilize in society, youth workers in my opinion are on a different level. To me, youth workers play a variety of roles. We are: mentors, teachers*, advocates, and students. We teach but we also learn from  youth. We all come from different backgrounds, posses different experiences, and different lifestyles.

We do not work by a timeline. Our "lesson plans" are not drafted by a school board. We unlike teachers have to freedom to be innovative. We help guide youth in positive directions by providing them with opportunities to develop or build leadership skills.This could be giving youth a project to develop a community garden or planning a conference   By providing leadership opportunities to youth who are an oppressed group, we are giving them a voice. A chance to be heard.

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